Harry Potter and the Digitized Do-Over
by Xuberant
Summary: After Harry Potter sacrifices himself to Voldemort, he finds himself in a void with a disembodied voice. He learns that his life is a video game and tries life again to fix everything that went wrong the first time around.
1. Digital Decisions

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Rowling does.

A/N: This is my first FanFic so constructive criticism is welcome. Please no flames. Enjoy.

* * *

 **Just after Harry is struck with the Killing Curse in the Forbidden Forest after sacrificing himself.  
**

Harry found himself in an endless white void. He had just been hit by the Killing Curse and while he didn't know what to expect, it certainly wasn't this. "Hello!" he shouted. It echoed in the seemingly empty abyss.

"Would you like to try again?"

Harry spun around looking for the distinctly feminine voice, but it seemed to come from everywhere. "Where are you? Show yourself!" He reached for his wand only to find it missing.

"Would you like to try again?"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Harry was starting to get mad. He didn't understand what the voice was talking about. "Try again?" Try what again?

"You... lost," the voice sounded sad, upset, almost as if it was disappointed.

"What, against Voldemort?" Harry was really quite angry at this point. Didn't the voice realize he had to die so that Voldemort could be killed? That he HAD to sacrifice himself?

"Well, that and life in general," the voice continued to speak, grating on Harry's nerves.

Beginning to shout Harry yelled, "What could you possibly know about about my life, the pain I've felt, the sacrifices I've made, the people I've lost!"

"I know everything," the voice continued to speak in it's not quite monotone, but disinterested voice, "allow me to prove it." A chalk board appeared in front of a Harry and words began to appear as if written with an invisible hand and while he understood the words themselves, they didn't make sense. At the top of the board appearing to be a title was ' **SCORE** '. "You performed poorly, learn from your mistakes." Harry looked at the board and began to read

 **SCORE**

 _GENERAL POINTS (overall): +30  
_ _Passed Years 1-6:_ +120  
 _Failed Year 7:_ -20  
 _Gaining Owls:  
_ _Outstanding:_ +10  
 _Exceeds Expectations:_ +25  
 _Acceptable:_ +1  
 _Failing Owls:  
_ _Poor:_ -1  
 _Dreadful:_ -5  
 _Lost Game:_ -100

 _YEAR ONE (overall):_ +30  
 _Joined Quidditch Team:_ +5  
 _Rescued Hermione:_ +5  
 _Defeated Troll:_ +10  
 _Enthralled by Mirror of Erised:_ -5  
 _Defeated Quirrell:_ +15

 _YEAR TWO (overall):_ +35  
 _Under Age Magic Warning:_ -5  
 _Failed to Identify Basilisk:_ -5  
 _Infiltrated Slytherin House:_ +5  
 _Used Sword of Gryfindor:_ +10  
 _Defeated Basilisk:_ +10  
 _Hurt by Basilisk:_ -5  
 _Destroyed Horcrux:_ +15  
 _Rescued Ginny: +5  
_ _Freed Dobby: +5_

 _YEAR THREE (overall): +_ 40  
 _Fainted from Dementors:_ -5  
 _Gained Marauder's Map:_ +10  
 _Learned Patronus: +_ 10  
 _Freed Sirius:_ +15  
 _Didn't Acquit Sirius:_ -5  
 _Freed Buckbeak:_ +5  
 _Held off Dementor Group: +_ 10

 _YEAR FOUR (overall):_ -11  
 _Attended World Cup:_ +2  
 _Resisted Veela Charm:_ +5  
 _Became Tournament Champion (involuntarily):_ -5  
 _Cheated on the First Task (disagrees with alignment):_ -5  
 _Told Cedric about First Task: +_ 5  
 _Needed Assistance with Egg Clue:_ -5  
 _Rescued Gabrielle (2nd task):_ +2  
 _Took Parvarti to the Ball:_ +5  
 _Ignored Parvarti:_ -10  
 _Won Tri-Wizard Tournament:_ +10  
 _Voldemort Revived:_ -15  
 _Held off Voldemort:_ +10  
 _Cedric Died:_ -5  
 _Slandered by Prophet:_ -5

 _YEAR FIVE (overall): +_ 3  
 _Held off Dementors:_ +5  
 _Under Age Magic Hearing:_ -10  
 _Repeatedly Anger Umbridge: +_ 5  
 _Tortured by Umbridge (blood quill):_ -5  
 _Banned from Quidditch:_ -2  
 _Failed Occlumency:_ -5  
 _Formed D.A.:_ +15  
 _Fails in Dating Cho_ : -5  
 _Sirius Died:_ -10  
 _Heard Prophecy: +5  
_ _Survived Department of Mysteries:_ +10

 _YEAR SIX (overall):_ +2  
 _Became Quidditch Captain:_ +2  
 _Won Felix Felicis: +_ 5  
 _Took Luna to Slug Fest:_ +5  
 _Lessons with Dumbledore:_ +5  
 _Destroyed Horcrux:_ +15  
 _Death Eaters Invaded Hogwarts:_ -10  
 _Dumbledore Dies_ : -15  
 _Failed in Dating Ginny:_ -5

 _YEAR SEVEN (overall):_ -20  
 _Survived the Flight of the Potters:_ +10  
 _Hedwig Dies:_ -15  
 _Mad-Eye Moody Died:_ -10  
 _Infiltrated Ministry:_ +10  
 _Rescued Luna:_ +5  
 _Dobby Died:_ -15  
 _Infiltrated Gringotts (discovered):_ +5  
 _Remus Died:_ -15  
 _Tonks Died:_ -15  
 _Fred Died:_ -15  
 _Snape Died:_ -10  
 _You Died (sacrificial):_ -30  
 _Destroyed Horcruxes_ : +75

 _ **OVERALL SCORE: 1**_ **09**

 _ **GRADE:**_ **Dreadful**

Harry stared aghast at the words and numbers before him. Things had really taken a dive after third year. "Is my life a video game?" he asked for Harry had sneaked into his cousins room when his relatives were gone and tried some on Dudley's computer. He found them enjoyable, but some were too complicated to understand in the short time he had to play.

"Yes, more specifically an RPG. You attempted the game on the most difficult settings and unsurprisingly lost. I advise you to pick an easier difficulty"

Harry was excited. He could do it all again, have everyone back he lost and defeat Voldemort. "Okay voice, how do I start over?"

The Stats disappeared from the board and new words appeared in their place.

 **NEW GAME**

 **NEW GAME+**

 **QUIT**

New Game+ and Quit were grayed out with only New Game seeming to be usable. "What are New Game+ and Quit?" Harry questioned.

"They are both usable only when you have won the game. New Game+ allows you to start a new game with everything your previous character gained stats, skills, etc. Quit is for when you wish to no longer play, you die... permanently."

Harry reached forward and touched New Game. The board wiped clean and new words appeared.

"Difficulty is critical in deciding what kind of game you wish to play. Once decided the difficulty cannot be changed and would require the beginning of a new game to play in another. Difficulties available to you currently are Muggle, Apprentice, Wizard, Master, and Merlin. You were playing on Merlin in your previous game. This is advised against without several successful playthroughs on lesser difficulties.

"Well, I don't want it too easy, lest I simply grow bored since I am repeating a lot of things, so I best do Apprentice" Harry thought as he tapped the board.

"You must now pick your history/origin. This can have far reaching consequences within the game. Currently only available to you is Standard. Other origins can be unlocked through performing various actions or achieving different goals throughout the game. You will only learn you have unlocked a new origin when starting a new game."

Harry reached forward and touched Standard wondering about what other origins he could play with. Deciding to think of it another time he looked at the board's newest text.

"Your selected difficulty grants you three starting perks. Choose wisely."

 **Perks Available:**

 _Levitate a Feather:_ Yay, flying objects; +20 Charms & +50% EXP Charms  
 _Of Course my Cat's a Brick:_ It's changing the very fabric of reality; +20 Transfiguration  & +50% EXP Transfiguration  
 _Potions is just Cooking:_ Potions can't possibly be that different from stew, right?; +20 Potions & Cooking & +50% EXP Potions & Cooking  
 _I am a Dark Lord's Worst Nightmare:_ Dark creatures scare their children with tales of you; +20 DADA & +50% EXP DADA  
 _Green Thumb:_ Plants strengthen in your presence; +20 Herbology  & +50% EXP Herbology  
 _Polyglot:_ Languages just come naturally; +20 All Languages  & +50% EXP All Languages  
 _A Brilliant Mind:_ Numbers seem to rework themselves for you; +20 Arithmancy & +50% EXP Ancient Runes  
 _King of the Jungle_ : +20 Care of Magical Creatures & +50% EXP Care of Magical Creatures  
 _Seer:_ Capable of Practical Divination  
 _Future Dark Lord:_ +20 Dark Magic  & +50% EXP Dark Magic  
 _Natural Occlumens:_ +20 Occlumency & +50% EXP Occlumency  
 _Ambidextrous:_ Can use both hands equally well, +40 Duel Wielding & +100% Duel Wielding

Harry went immediately for the _I am a Dark Lord's Worst Nightmare_ feat thinking, "I'm already good at DADA, but I certainly can get better." Next was _Potions is just Cooking_ with the idea of finally proving Snape wrong. Lastly Harry picked Natural Occlumens: "Maybe with this I can finally fix my headaches."

"Excellent choice, you are now ready to begin play. Would you like to skip the prologue?"

"What's the prologue?"

"Your years with the Dursleys. The prologue ends when you turn eleven."

"Yes, I bloody want to skip ten years of hell," Harry said emphatically. There was no way he was returning to the Dursleys for ten years. To be stuck with people who hated and abused him, without his magic to boot.

"Very well then. Let the game begin."

And as Harry stood the board in front of him faded away into the darkness and Harry felt himself begin to spin and just as he was getting worried the world around him faded to darkness.

* * *

A/N: Again everybody thanks for reading, help is welcome. Goodbye.


	2. Hi-Ho Silver

Harry jolted upright. What was going on? Oh, right, the void, the voice... the game. Where was he though, the voice said he would go back to his eleventh birthday? Harry looked around at stonework in what seemed to be a to...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Harry's watch went off, he glanced down at it. 12:00 am. Midnight. It all came rushing back to Harry. He was at the island that his uncle took them to so the owls couldn't find them. "I guess the voice meant my birthday quite literally. Hagrid should be here any second then," Harry thought.

 ***CRASH***

"Right on cue," Harry thought as he turned around. Before him stood the man, well, half-man that introduced him to the wizarding world. "I better make sure to act like Hagrid is a stranger and that I don't know anything about the wizarding world," Harry thought. Before him the scene unfolded as he remembered, making sure to act his part. It was particularly enjoyable to watch Hagrid give Dudley a tail. "I wonder if his wand fragments are in the umbrella, it would explain the magic," Harry thought eyeing the pink umbrella with the wooden shaft.

On journey to Diagon Alley Harry decided to start training his skills, asking Hagrid about magical creatures, knowing Hagrid would think nothing of it and greatly enjoying talking Harry's ear off. Hagrid jumped from topic to topic for a short while until settling on cerberuses, one in particular they both had experience with, Fluffy. Throughout the conversation a window with the text **+1 Care of Magical Creatures** would appeare in Harry's vision staying in the same spot no matter how he moved his eyes or head. Deciding to address it later Harry pressed the red X that resided in the top right corner of all the boxes and they disappeared.

/* **SCENE CHANGE** * **\**

 **Inside the Leaky Cauldron**

Harry stared around the room, "so it begins again, hello wizarding world, here I come," Harry thought. And so it began, the groveling, the crying, and the stammering. All the things grown witches & wizards do when they meet the boy who lived. As Harry was greeted by the varying magicals in the Leaky Cauldron, Quirrell approached.

"He-He-Hello mister Po-P-Potter. I w-will be y-your De-De-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts instructor," Quirrell managed to stutter out. Rather than listen to his words though, Harry paid close attention to his scar. It seemed to hurt distinctly less than he had remembered it.

"Oh, it must be the _Natural Occlumens_ perk I picked, this game's already paying off in a excellent bloody way," Harry thought excitedly.

 **+1 Occlumency**

"It just keeps getting better and better," thought Harry as smirk stretched across his lips.

Harry and Hagrid having finally finished greeting various witches & wizards, exited the crowd and emerged at the back of the pub near the entrance to Diagon Alley. Before them lie the bricks that hide the place that had truly made magic a reality for Harry. It had all seemed like some grand dream until he stepped through that portal. A portal into another world. With these thoughts at the forefront of his mind Harry stepped into Diagon Alley and just as it did the first time around the sight before him resonated deeply. He had another chance, to make everything right, to save all those people. Harry stared forward, determined. This time he was serious.

Hagrid took Harry first to Gringots knowing Harry would lack Wizarding currency and so as to aquire to stone for Dumbledore. "Hagrid, I don't have any money," Harry said knowing that he could not let on knowing to much before he should.

"Don't worry Harry, your parents left you money. I have the key with me, I'll show you what to do, although I don't look forward to all that cart riding. Upsets my stomach it does," Hagrid grumbled.

"You can just give me my key then Hagrid. I'm sure I can figure it out," Harry said tired of acting the innocent.

Hagrid slightly surprised, stumbled a bit,"Err, if you're sure Harry. 'Ere you go." Harry, grinning at receiving his key, walked into Gringots slightly ahead of Hagrid already thinking of what to get outside of his standard school requirements.

Having approached a teller Harry pulled out key and presented it to the goblin, "Hello Mr. Goblin, I would like to access my trust vault," Harry said with respect realizing it would probably be better to not risk angering the goblins.

"And you are?" the goblin asked haughtily sneering down at Harry behind his high counter.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry continued to be as respectful he could, although it was growing increasingly difficult with the goblins attitude.

"Is this the only vault you wish to access?" the goblin questioned.

Harry, now intrigued, asked, "I thought my trust vault was the only one I had, what other vaults do I have?" In the previous go-around extra vaults had not revealed themselves and this confused Harry. Where they new, he didn't think so, but why hadn't he found out about them?

The goblin, sighing for this would prove a great deal extra work began his explanation, "If you are who you claim to be, as the heir of the Potter family and the only one remaining, you may access the family vault at the age of eleven rather than having to reach your majority. Any family heirlooms not found on any Potter properties are likely to reside within this vault. If you wish to access it you must proof yourself as being Harry Potter through a test."

Having been intrigued Harry decided to investigate this new avenue, "what test must I go through Mr. Goblin?"

The goblin, rather than answering, disappears behind his desk appears before Harry, "follow me. The test is conducted within the bank," he says before waddling off. The pair pass through a set of doors in the side wall and proceed down several corridors and Harry quickly loses any idea of where he is before bumping into the back of the still nameless goblin as he halts in front of a plain, four paneled, dark wood door.

"Sorry Mr. Goblin," Harry says apologetically.

"No matter, you will enter this door and inside will be a table. Upon this table lay both a dagger and a bowl. You will use the blade to cut your finger and bleed into the bowl. The wound shall heal when the bowl has been filled sufficiently. Do you understand Mister Potter?" the goblin managed to say both derisively and respectfully at the same time.

"Yes, thank you," Harry said as he had already started walking through the door. As Harry closed the door behind himself he observed the room before him. It while not a plain room was not excessively decorated. It possessed a black & white tiled floor and simple blood red colored walls. Residing in the center of the room was a low table at about knee height. Atop the table the aforementioned knife and below, both elegantly simply. The knife of a simple wood handle and a keen 10 cm long blade. Accompanying it a white marble bowl. Both engraved with runes undecipherable to Harry.

Harry kneeled before the table and grasped the knife lifting and setting it across his finger. Without realizing the sharpness of the knife Harry had already provided himself with the cut and so he set the knife aside and held his hand above the bowl watching the blood slowly pool on the tip of his finger and then fall into the bowl. With each drop of blood the bowl pulsated with light growing brighter and brighter. When the light became so bright as to force Harry to shut his eyes it vanished along with all the blood in the bowl and the cut along his finger.

Harry exited the room very confused at what had occurred and uncertain whether he had passed or failed, "Mr. Goblin, how do I know if I passed, the bowl just got really bright then everything stopped?"

The goblin looked slightly shocked when Harry exited the room, but quickly schooled himself, "Kid, the fact that you're here is proof enough alone that you passed * **chuckle** *, walk with me," he said and began to walk down the corridor at a very sedated pace, "by the way, call me Poxbox," he called back over his shoulder.

Harry was shocked by this, he stood there for a moment before rushing after Poxbox, he had never seen or heard of a goblin acting like this before, what was going on. "Hey, uh, Poxbox, what just happened?" Harry asked, lacking any other way of phrasing his question.

"Huh, oh, well you aren't the first person to come he claiming to be Harry Potter you know, we're quite used to impostors and I had simply assumed you one. Now I know you aren't. Also, contrary to popular belief we goblins are evil ultra-serious tightwads with sticks up our arse. Its just with the adults of the wizarding world, some of the children haven't adopted the prejudice of their parents when they visit us so we are kind to them. Even if they have a fun time with us though they tend to be turned against us by that magical bag of cold air Binns," Poxbox said in a tone unheard by Harry from a goblin before. He sounded relaxed, not aggressive, it was odd to say the least. As they continued through hallways and onto the tracks through the caverns they discussed various aspects of goblin culture.

The cart ground to a halt before what Harry knew was his trust vault. He entered intended to grab more than enough for his schools supplies and all the other various things he intended to buy, but having gathered all the coins he realized, "This is a LOT of coinage, how am I supposed to carry this," he thought. "Hey, Poxbox, is there any way for me to carry all these coins with me, you know easily?" Harry asked looking back outside the vault at Poxbox.

Poxbox shook his head for a moment before face palming. "Whoops, I forgot. Gringots offers pouches directly connected to your vaults. Don't worry, they are tied to your magic so you needn't worry that someone can steal it and therefore your gold," he said before tossing a bag to Harry. As Harry grabbed it there was a flash of light and the bag seemed to suddenly weigh more. Harry reached into the bag and could feel coins within and end to which he could not find.

"Thanks Poxbox, this is gonna be really handy. Could we go check out the other vaults you mentioned earlier now? I'm hoping to find some useful stuff in them," Harry said as he hopped down off his mounds of gold, silver, and bronze coins approaching Poxbox. Together they left the vault and walked towards the cart.

"Well, that depends on which vault you want to go to. You have access to two others currently. There is your Potter Family vault and one your mother established that seems to have activated only due to you having met certain prerequisites, I do not know what they are but the contents of the vault will likely reveal them," Poxbox said to Harry as they clambered into the car and he readied it to move. Unbeknownst to most wizards the carts did in fact have more than one speed. Seven different speeds actually with the one used for wizards being the slowest. Having used the second level on the way down to the vault with Harry after asking his approval, Poxbox decided to step it up a notch even further to the fourth level.

"Uh, lets go to my family vault first, I'm really interested whats in there," Harry said while strapping himself in, but not knowing that the speed was to be increased didn't ready himself accordingly so when Poxbox grunted and activated the cart, Harry screamed as it shot down the cavern at speeds he had not been expecting. "AAAAAAaaahhh...," his voice echoed as he plummeted down through the caves further and further from the surface.

 **/* SCENE CHANGE *\**

 **Before the Potter Family Vault**

As Poxbox opened the door Harry thought excitedly to himself of what he might find with, he didn't know what to expect other than gold. Ancient tomes, family arts, awesome stuff in general. None the less Harry was excited. "Alright, here you go Har- * **WHOOSH** * -ry," Poxbox said as Harry rushed past him like the child he now resembled. In the vault was the expected mounds upon mounds of various wizarding coins, but off into the corner of the vault an area was set aside for other things. As Harry walked towards the area containing what seemed to large amounts of bookshelves.

Transfiguration, lots and lots of things to with transfiguration. The majority of the bookshelves contained books on varying kinds of transfiguration, even venturing into some alchemy. This would explain his father's greatly acclaimed ability in in transfiguration. Seemed to be a Potter specialty, kinda made sense with the name. Harry grabbed one of the books from a case titled "Master" only to discover he could not even begin to understand the text. He tried this again and again with books from varying shelves, only to discover that the only decipherable texts were those in the the _Intro to Transfiguration_ series. "Well, crap. Guess the game reset my knowledge, bloody hell that's going to be a bit of a pain. At least it'll feel new," Harry said. Resigned to working from the bottom up Harry grabbed a bag from a nearby shelf and piled the entire _Intro to Transfiguration_ series into it only to discover the bag was bottomless. "I guess it makes sense with all the books in their," Harry thought to himself as he strolled out of the vault back to the cart.

As Harry boarded the cart Poxbox kicked up the speed yet another notch, "HI-HO SILVER,"he shouted as they rocketed through the goblin made tunnels towards the next mystery of the journey.

 **/* SCENE CHANGE *\**

 **Outside the Vault Established by Lily Potter nèe Evans**

Harry wondered, what was going to be inside the vault, what requirements had he met unknowingly, would he get to learn more about his mother? Staring inside the opened vault Harry saw a pedestal upon which sat a trunk and upon that a sealed envelope. He surged forward and lifted the envelope with trembling hands. He slowly broke the seal and withdrew the contents. Inside lay a single letter form his mother.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _If you are reading this it means I am dead, most likely at the hands of Voldemort. I leave behind for you on the chance that you inherited my gift. You see I am a parselmouth and you reading this means you are also. You must realize this is not some evil dark art others would tell you it is. It is simply another part of magic to be cherished by those who can wield it. I leave behind to you all the knowledge I have gathered on parseltongue so that you may develop your gift as I did mine and hopefully to greater heights._

 _From,_

 _Your Loving Mother_

Harry stared in awe at the letter, his mouth having fallen open. His mother was a parselmouth, "I'm not a parselmouth because of stupid Voldywort, but because my mother was one," Harry thought no longer feeling guilty of possessing such a trait. His gaze lifted to the trunk as a smirk split his face, "this time I'm going to make proper use of it." Grabbing the trunk Harry slid the letter into his pocket carefully, determined it remain undamaged. He walked up to Poxbox saying, "okay, I got everything I need for now. Let's go."

"Alright then Harry, get ready for the best cart ride of your life," Poxbox said with a mischievous grin as he turned the cart up to speed seven, "away we go!"

* * *

 **A/N** Hey everybody, thanks for all the great feedback i'm loving it. Please keep on reviewing and everything.

Hey Vidacus, I would very much appreciate having a beta for the chapters


	3. Wands Galore

Harry emerged from the bank. The journey up from his mother's vault had been a bit of a daze thinking of the possibilities of what on parseltongue his mother's books contained. Having not looked in the books he didn't really know. Alas, he probably wouldn't know for a while, parseltongue books being something he probably shouldn't read in public considering the social stigma.

"Oh, 'ello there Harry. Did you get everything you needed," said Hagrid as he laid his glove of a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry looked up at him and said, "Yep, got everything I need, where to next? Can I get my wand?" Harry really wanted to get his wand again. He's felt like a part of him has been imssing since he lost his phoenix feather wand a while ago.

Hagrid chuckled: "sure Harry, you can go get your wand, I'm going to pick something up from one of the stores, but I'll be waiting outside for you." Harry rushed off towards Ollivanders.

 **/* SCENE CHANGE *\**

 **Outside Ollivanders**

Before him stood the same dusty, musty shop that he remembered. _"It's kinda weird that it's kept in such a bad state. Must be for the mystique of it"_ Harry thought.

The door opened and a starry-eyed first year walked past him only for Harry to chuckle, _"Did I look like that when I got my wand,"_ Harry thought laughing to himself. _"Let's do this,"_ Harry thought as he opened the door and entered the store.

"ACHOO!" Harry sneezed, _"Bloody hell is it dusty in here or what?"_ The store was as he remembered it: super mysterious, dark, and kinda creepy.

"Hello there Mister Potter," said a super creepy old man who seemed to have risen out of the floor.

"Oh, uh, hi. Where did you come from?" Harry was very confused since there didn't seem to be anywhere that Ollivander could have been hiding behind.

"That's not important," Ollivander said nudged a circular rug over a trap door, "lets see about getting you a wand instead of asking silly questions," he said slowly leaning forward until his face was level with Harry's only centimeters away. Suddenly his face was quickly drawn back and a tape measure took its place. "Stand still please and allow the device to take its measurements."

A minute passed before Harry began to ask questions on wands. He had always been curious about them but no one seemed to know much and the opportunity to ask Ollivander hadn't arisen the last time around. Ollivander was simply delighted that a young-in was taking an interest in wands.

 **+1 Wand Crafting**

"Hey Ollivander," as Harry had been told to call him, "do you have any books on wand crafting I could buy," Harry asked thinking it would be brilliant if he could make extra wands for himself and his friends.

"Sure Harry, I'll get you some after we find you a wand," Ollivander said just as the tape measure finished its job.

"Does taking measurements actually make finding a wand easier?" Harry asked, unsure of how such a thing would make wand matching easier.

"No, not really, it merely keeps the kids entertained while I read their aura. That's how I match wands, aura reading. Otherwise this job would take bloody forever," he said as he wandered to and fro in the shop collecting various wands for Harry to try.

Harry went through many wands with extremely varying rules. Some did nothing, some shot motes of light, and some simply erupted in flames. This continued on for a while, Ollivander growing more and more excited thinking that something truly special might occur, only for him to suddenly stop whilst perusing the shelves, "Could it be? Maybe, just maybe," he looked back at Harry, his eyes shining in the muted light of the shop. He slowly withdrew a box from the shelf, inspected it, and reverently brought it to Harry. " Now, try this wand," he said removing the lid from the box revealing a wand with which Harry was intimately familiar, his phoenix feather wand. Harry reached forward and grasped it only for the world to explode around him and his lose of consciousness.

"Haaaarrrrrrry, come on now. You need to wake up," Harry heard from what seemed a great distance before a sharp pain suddenly exploded across his face.

"Di-did you just slap me?" Harry asked incredulously, "was that honestly necessary?"

"I can't very well have people walk into my store and see The-Boy-Who-Lived unconscious on my floor," Ollivander said as he sat at his desk pondering what wand he could possibly proffer to Harry next. He suddenly stood up and scurried off into the back of the shop calling back to Harry, "follow me lad, I think I might have just the wand for you."

Off they went through the shop, Harry quickly getting lost in all maze of shelves. They went up stairs, down stairs, and through many doors before finally arriving at the bottom of a staircase before a simply door. Ollivander shuffled around going through his pockets, "now where are those bloody keys, never thought I'd need to open this door," he said.

After a few minutes he eventually struck gold, "Ah ha. Now Harry, the wands that lie within this room are very old and very special. They were created over a millennium ago by a distant ancestor of mine who was a seer, she saw that there would be peculiar people, just like yourself, who would be unable to use any old wand like we have in the main shop. Some have found their owner throughout the ages while most still reside here, waiting for their destined to arrive," he said before unlocking the door and allowing Harry inside, "you must find the wand that feels right, there shall only be one and it shall call to you as a child calls for its mother." And with that Ollivander shut the door leaving Harry alone in the room.

" _Well, not quite alone,"_ Harry thought as he turned around and looked about the room. It was a very plain room, being built entirely of stone. Lining the walls were wooden tables upon which sat many wooden boxes all of which appeared extremely aged. Harry deciding to begin proceeded to the nearest box bearing table. The box was very simply bearing a simple brass clasp and no defining features, seemingly the same as every other box in the room.

Harry undid the clasp and opened the box. Inside, upon a velvet cushion, lay a wand of a blood red wood. Simply seeing it made shivers descend down Harry's spine and as he reached forward to grasp it gruesome scenes of violence and gore flashed before Harry's vision. He quickly withdrew his hand thinking _"bloody hell! That was... a BLOODY HELL!"_

Moving on to the next box Harry opened it to discover, upon another velvet cushion, a wand made seemingly of emerald, _"since when are wands not wood,"_ thought Harry as he continued to inspect. Having no apparent consequences from simply observing it, Harry reached out to grasp the wand. He managed to grab it only for visions of a grand green scene to show in his mind along with pictures of a girl on whose feet reside ruby slippers. _"Probably not,"_ Harry thought putting down the wand and gazing once more about the room, _"this may take a while."_

Harry continued on through many wands and had a large variety of reactions, although each coupled with a vision, none being as mortifying as the first wand, some even enjoyable. Finally though, some three quarters of the way through all the wands in the room, Harry stumbled upon something special. From the very moment he stood before it he new something was different. Before he had even opened the box he could feel a pull, a tug emanating from within it. He was slightly worried. Nonetheless he gathered his Gryffindor courage and marched onward undoing the clasp and flinging the box open.

There, Harry knew, this was his wand. Harry could feel its cry, its need to be with him. He slowly stretched out his hand splaying his fingers and before his hand had even reached the wand it sprang from the box into Harry's awaiting fingers. As it rested firmly within Harry's grasp he could feel the power surging through him, a visible aura appearing around him shedding a bright green light not dissimilar to his eyes in colour. Harry knew this was the wand for him. He put it back within box, refastening the clasp, and picked it up reverently.

He walked back to the door and knocked upon it a single time and Ollivander opened the door. "Lets retreat to my workroom and then you can show me your wand," he said as he led Harry back through his maze of a store, "so, what was it like, those wands are to special to not have done something?"

"It... was certainly an experience. The wands. They gave me visions," Harry said before remembering, "Ollivander, I saw a wand made of emerald, I thought wands could only be made of wood?"

Ollivander, seemingly delighted at the question, answered, "Well, you see young Harry, that is a common misconception, but one that could only be discovered if one were to delve into wand making lore. Wands are mass produced in wood due to the magical flexibility inherent in it. This allows the wand to be utilized successfully by a much greater amount of people. Without this flexibility a store styled as this one is could simply never work. Aura reading is not specific enough to match other types of material, where only wood is general enough. Other materials and especially gems are work on so specific a magical wavelength that only single person could wield them out of every hundred of generations of magicals. Therefore the types of materials can only be utilized in custom crafting where the wand is fitted specifically for a user." And with that they had reached Ollivander's workroom.

 **+1 Wand Crafting**

 **+1 Wand Crafting**

 **+1 Wand Crafting**

Ollivander's workroom was slightly similar to the room of many wands that Harry had been in before. It had many a table strewn around the room with various pieces of wood, wand cores, and other things lain atop them. Ollivander strode up to a table in the middle of the room and motioned for Harry to place the box upon it. Harry did so and continued to unclasp and open the box revealing his wand. Ollivander bent over and began to inspect it, "Ah, interesting choice, a brown laurel wood, the wand of a winner that is, thirty three centimeters long, good length," he lightly bent the wand, "and very flexible. A core of Royal Sphinx tongue, odd. It seems like this shall be an excellent wand Harry, do it proud." He put the wand back into the box and redid the clasp. "Now," he claps a single time, "we must attune this box to you so that if you are ever unable of taking your wand somewhere and must leave it someplace this box is perfectly safe. Place your hand upon it and give me just a minute," he said gesturing for Harry's compliance.

Harry reached forward and place his hand, palm down, atop the box. Ollivander drew his wand and began to circle around Harry and the box, waving his wands and mumbling unintelligible words. This continued on for a minute when Ollivander suddenly stopped rapped his wand upon the box. A loud gong rung throughout the room and the box began to change. With light erupting from it, the box slowly changed its shape. The color of the wood shifted from a pale oak wood to a dark ebony. The edges, rather than being roughly hewn, became softer and rounder. The clasp became fine gold. Finally, the lid of the box gained a depression in the shape of the lightning bolt, identical to the bolt that lay upon Harry's forehead.

The light show had eventually died down with Harry & Ollivander both leaning over and seeing how the box had changed. "The box looks very nice now Harry, very regal," Ollivander said to Harry, "why don't you grab your wand from it and we can go get you all sorted out at the front desk." He patted Harry on the back and scurried off into the corner of the room and began collecting various books. Harry opened the box and retrieved his wand from where it lay on the now green velvet pillow. Together they left the room and managed to navigate to the front of the store which was as empty as when they had left. "Okay Harry, here are those books you wanted," Ollivander said as he piled things onto the table next to the register, "and also a wand holster, simply must have one so as to not risk injury to your wand."

Harry pulled out his money pouch and asked, "how much for it all," very much intending to pay for it.

"Oh, that's not necessary Harry, this was such a wonderful experience that it paid for itself," Ollivander said waving his hand at the thought of needing payment.

Harry, very uncomfortable with the idea of not paying, replied, "but all this stuff must be worth a bloody fortune, I won't just take it for free."

Ollivander laughed, "Harry, this was more than a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, this was a chance very few Ollivanders get to have, also, it's not like I could have sold the wand to another, but if you must insist, that will be one galleon for the wand holster." Harry signed realizing that Ollivander was not going to back down on this and withdrew a sole galleon from his pouch and deposited it on the table. Ollivander snatched it up and plopped it into his registrar and waved Harry out of the store. "Visit again any time Harry, I am more than willing to help with your wand crafting. And don't worry about the money, I'll just massively overcharge the next pureblood who comes on through, they won't question a thing," he called to Harry with a massive smirk on his face. Harry left the store with a similar grin set for the next leg of his diagon journey.


	4. Rasputin the Cat

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

* * *

Harry emerged from the wand shop and stared down at the list of his first year supplies, having previously purchased from memory. _"Books seems like a good next step,"_ he thought, turning towards Flourish and Blotts. He began to walk, not watching where he was going, when he bumped into someone, "Oh, pardon me," he said looking up, "Hi Hagrid!"

Hagrid beamed down at him, a giant grin on his face, "Hello Harry, I got a present for you," he said pulling something out of his coat, cupped in his massive hands, "a cat."

Harry stared, slightly in shock. He hadn't thought about it yet but Hedwig was also alive, _"I need to go get her... but it wouldn't be her,"_ Harry thought as he looked down at the cat, _"maybe this is for the best."_ Harry stared down at the cat only for it to stare right back with glowing blue eyes. Hagrid handed the cat to Harry who began to inspect it.

The cat possessed light gray fur with streaks of cyan running through it, and was capable of fitting nicely within Harry's hands. This was due to it being naught but a kitten and weighing only 1.6 lbs./ 0.73 kg. It continued to stare up at Harry unabashedly before leaping onto his shoulder and then on-top of his head where it dug its claws into his hair, settling down for a nap.

Hagrid laughed seeing this, "I think he likes you Harry," he said, "we'll need to get you a book on how to care for her." Harry simply nodded still kinda bewildered, and followed Hagrid to Flourish and Blotts.

 **/* SCENE CHANGE *\**

 **Flourish and Blotts**

"Okay Harry, your cat's a Caseum, very magical breed, very mysterious breed. Not much is known about them, shopkeeper didn't even recognize it, so a book about them won't have much, but it should have enough. I'm gonna go off and look around the creatures sections for one; you go get your school books," Hagrid said as they entered the store. He wandered off in his own direction, leaving Harry and his cat by themselves.

Harry looked up at his new cat thinking, _"you still need a name,"_ whilst collecting his school books and tried to think of one. He thought of many names, but discarded them all for one reason or another. While scanning through the shelves, looking for his History of Magic book, he saw a gap in the shelves, a glint in the darkness between the books. Reaching back he groped around for the source of the reflection and managed to find something. Withdrawing his hand he found a chocolate frog card which read solely, _Rasputin_. _"Rasputin,"_ Harry thought, _"I like that name."_ He looked up at his cat, "What about you? Do you like Rasputin?" he asked the cat.

The cat leaned out off of Harry's head, holding onto his hair tightly, and looked down at Harry, "Meow," he purred, rubbing his head against Harry's forehead.

"Well then," Harry said, "I'll just assume that's a yes," knowing he was right. With a name decided Harry continued on searching the shelves and gathering his school books. Whilst gathering them he ran across a couple other books he found interesting and decided to purchase: _Mental Magicks: a Guide by Ares Black_ and _Potions with Snape for the non-Slytherin by a muggleborn_ (this one causing Harry a great deal of amusement.

Having walked to where he knew the creatures section of the store was, Harry was surprised when he found Hagrid, seated upon a very strained stool, speaking enthusiastically to several excited children about Fluffy.

" _This is the type of teacher Hagrid should have been. Would have been if not for Malfoy ruining it,"_ Harry thought as he waited at the edge of the semicircle of children surrounding Hagrid.

"Thanks for waitin' Harry. The lil' ones couldn't get enough of hearing 'bout Fluffy," Hagrid said smiling sheepishly as the kids dispersed back through the bookstore, looking for new entertainment.

Harry smiled up at him and said, "It's no problem Hagrid. You should teach, you're great," in an attempt to encourage him.

"Oh, thanks Harry. I substitute sometimes for Kettleburn and he's goin' to be retiring soon, so maybe," Hagrid said blushing and hopeful. "right, here that book for you, they had to go to the back to get it, there only copy it is," he said handing over a wrapped book to Harry.

Harry tore open the wrapping excited. _Moste Mysterious and Magickal: The Caseum by Doge Scamander_ was revealed with the cover bearing a picture of a white, adult cat similar in appearance to Rasputin. "Thanks Hagrid," he said bearing a mighty grin at the present.

"No problem, Harry, maybe with having... er, did you pick a name yet?" Hagrid asked leaning down.

"Rasputin, he's named Rasputin. Raz for short."

"Ah, excellent name then. Well, with you having Raz maybe we can find a bit more about Caseums. That books little more than a pamphlet." At this Harry and Hagrid stared at Rasputin for he had emitted a rather large meow only for a very uncatlike grin to stretch across his face. A shudder ran down Hagrid and Harry's spines.

"Uh, good idea Hagrid, could be fun."

And with that they left the store, bound for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Once shown in Harry arrived in the back room which was decidedly void of Malfoys. _"I guess our 'first meeting' will have to wait,"_ Harry thought with a chuckle as he left the store having acquired all his necessary garments.

As Harry and Hagrid made their way to the Leaky Cauldron, back through the Alley, they picked up the various other bits and bops Harry required for his studies. "Alright Harry, you're goin' to get back to the Dursleys, the slimy buggers, by the Night Bus. Hold out your wand to call it," Hagrid said as they stood by the roadside, next to the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry was surprised, _"last time we just took the tube back,"_ he thought as he raised his wand.

 ***BANG***

The bus appeared with a raucous crash, slightly startling Harry. "Alright then Harry, on you go. I'll see you in 'bout a month," Hagrid said waving goodbye as he withdrew back into the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry turned around to look at the Knight Bus, expecting Stan Shunpike to emerge, but was surprised when some unknown appeared. "Oh 'ello there. Look lively now. So, where to then laddy?" he said in such a rapid fashion Harry was nearly bowled over. Not to mention the unbelievably thick accent.

"Uhhhh, Number Four Privet Drive, please," Harry managed to stutter out.

"Alrighty then., that 'ell be 12 sickles," he said stretching out a hand for the money. Harry withdrew the amount from his money bag, handing it over. The man stepped back inside allowing Harry to board, "back of the level."

 **/* SCENE CHANGE *\**

 **Number Four Privet Drive**

Harry stepped off the Knight Bus onto the sidewalk in front of the Dursley home. He could tell the Dursleys were already back; Uncle Vernon had taken the car with them to the island and before him it sat in the driveway. Harry approached the door and knocked. He heard shuffling in the house and rapidly approaching foot steps. The door opened, "He-," she started before realizing it was Harry. "Boy get inside before someone sees you," she hissed yanking Harry inside and slamming the door. She scurried to the kitchen before returning with an apple, "take this and go to your room. Don't come out until tomorrow," she said thrusting the apple at him and shoving him up the steps.

Harry stumbled up the steps a bit from the shove before regaining his balance and slowly ambling his way up, exhausted from the day. He managed to pry open his door before awkwardly closing it and flopping forward onto his bed. He fell asleep immediately, his possessions strewn around him on the bed.

 **/* THE NEXT DAY *\**

Harry slowly arose from his slumbering state and sat up on the bed. Looking around at his possessions jumbled around the bed, he set about putting them away.

When Harry picked up the book on Caseums he looked around for Rasputin, only to be unable to find him. Just as Harry was about to leave the room and search he heard a meowing from a bookcase in the corner of the room. Turning towards it Harry saw that atop it sat his cat. Rasputin stared down at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Okay, come on down now," Harry said walking over to the bookcase.

Rasputin jumped off the bookcase, falling down onto Harry's head, where he quickly buried himself in the bird's nest that was Harry hair. Harry chuckled at this, reaching his hand up and giving Rasputin a quick scratch between the ears. The cat purred loudly, content with his spot and the attention he was receiving.

Harry settled back onto his bed, Rasputin atop his head. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a voice emerged, "hello there Harry, having a pleasant time so far?"

It was the voice from the void, the one that started this, "hi voice, yes I have been. What do you want?" Harry said.

"Oh just thought I'd help you a bit, explain a few things. So you know those plus one notices that have been appearing," the voice said and without waiting for a response continued, "those refer to your skills, the skills are primarily based upon different areas of magic. You can see your skills simply by thinking _Character_. Try it." Harry did so, and having simply thought _Character_ with the intent to view his skills, a window appeared before him. "Other stuff is on here too, but we'll get to that later."

Harry stared forward at the window and began to read it.

 **Harry Potter**

 **Skills:  
** _Apprentice DADA:_ 20/200  
 _Apprentice Potions:_ 20/200  
 _Apprentice Transfiguration:_ 20/200  
 _Care of Magical Creatures:_ 2/200  
 _Flying:_ 20/200  
 _Occlumency:_ 21/200  
 _Wand Crafting:_ 4/200

 **Perks:  
** _I am a Dark Lord's Worst Nightmare:_ Dark creatures scare their children with tales of you; +20 DADA  & +50% EXP DADA  
 _Potions is just Cooking:_ Potions can't possibly be that different from stew, right?; +20 Potions  & Cooking & +50% EXP Potions & Cooking  
 _Natural Occlumens:_ +20 Occlumency  & +50% EXP Occlumency  
 _Son of James:_ +20 Flying & +50% EXP Flying  
 _Potter-Born:_ +20 Transfiguration & +50% EXP Transfiguration

"Why are some of the skills Apprentice," Harry asked the voice

"Those are classes taught from the beginning of Hogwarts. The average student will complete the Apprentice form of a skill when they finish their OWLs. The Journeyman level will then be mostly completed alongside NEWTs. The final form is Master, but few wizards or witches ever reach such a level, let alone max it."

"Got it," Harry said, nodding, "could you explain perks now?"

"Oh, yes. The perks pretty self-explanatory in what they do, these ones anyway. There are more ways to gain perks... but I'm gonna let you find those out yourself. What's life without a little bit of mystery? Cya Harry!" the voice said before fading away.

The rest of the summer passed rather quickly for Harry after his trip to Diagon Alley. He invested a great deal of time to his studies, reading through both his textbooks and personal ones, this was rather limited by the ban on underage wizardry though. Reading his mother's book was undoubtedly his favorite, written like a journal Harry got to now more about his mother than he ever had before. Harry grew to truly appreciate parseltongue for what it was as he read Lily's book, a gift. Whilst studying his maternal gifts he made certain to not neglect his paternal ones, learning his family's history in transfiguration, the subject of the first book.

Overall Harry enjoyed his summer, shunning the Dursleys, curled up in room with a good book. Before he knew it, September 1st had arrived, and with it the Hogwarts Express.

* * *

 **AN:** Hey everybody, thanks for reading. The skills and perks have finally revealed themselves. Just so everybody can know, the third year electives operate off of a different system than the core classes do. I'll explain it later and hopefully not forget before it comes up, since it took a while to figure out.

 **CONTEST:** Rasputin the Caseum Cat is based off another character in fiction not of the Harry Potter verse. Whoever can figure it out first in the reviews will get a shout-out. No more than one answer per person can be submitted. There are a few hints in the chapter so go look for them.

 **Harry Potter**

 **Skills:  
** _Apprentice DADA:_ 25/200  
 _Apprentice Potions:_ 25/200  
 _Apprentice Transfiguration:_ 35/200  
 _Care of Magical Creatures:_ 4/200  
 _Flying:_ 20/200  
 _Occlumency:_ 26/200  
 _Parseltongue:_ 15/200  
 _Wand Crafting:_ 6/200

 **Perks:  
** _I am a Dark Lord's Worst Nightmare:_ Dark creatures scare their children with tales of you; +20 DADA  & +50% EXP DADA  
 _Potions is just Cooking:_ Potions can't possibly be that different from stew, right?; +20 Potions  & Cooking & +50% EXP Potions & Cooking  
 _Natural Occlumens:_ +20 Occlumency  & +50% EXP Occlumency  
 _Son of James:_ +20 Flying & +50% EXP Flying  
 _Potter-Born:_ +20 Transfiguration & +50% EXP Transfiguration


End file.
